SWNOVELS Fear The Reapers: Chapter 11
The moment I woke up and took in my surroundings, reality hit me. I was still in their home, which meant everything that occurred the day before was real.
I crawled out of bed and slipped in and out of the restroom with little incident. It was a blessing if there ever was one. I couldn’t handle another awkward encounter with the men of this house. Not after what happened the night before.
As I pulled on my usual wardrobe of black denim, a cut-off band tee and leather ankle boots, I thought about what life would be like working for The Reapers. I still didn’t know what kind of work they wanted me to do and it was nerve-wracking to have everything so up in the air.
I could be a maid and spend my days cleaning up after them. The house was spotless as it was, but I could cook or do laundry. I could deal drugs. It wouldn’t be my first choice, of course, but anything was better than the bullshit they pulled last night.
Ezra and Cyrus tried to treat me like I was their personal lapdog. Like they could say ‘jump’ and the only response I was allowed to have was ‘how high’. But I was their fucking pet. That is where I drew the line, and last night was my attempt at making that clear.
I knew they were trying to test me. Trying to see how far they could push me before I broke. But they failed to realize that for me, being pushed around was nothing new. Someone had been pushing me around my entire life. Last night was my breaking point.
The thing between Ezra and I went a little further than I planned. I wanted to scare him off, to show him I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t expect him to like my aggression and to take things even further. How he touched my body and the electric current between us was unlike anything I had ever experienced. If he didn’t push me off, I don’t know if I would’ve stopped him and that terrified me.
Ezra was bad news and even my body could feel it. Whenever he came near me, my heart would thunder in my chest and my adrenaline would surge. But the rush he created was addictive. He was unpredictable and intriguing and completely off limits. All of them were dangerous, but Ezra was fucking suicide.
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It had reached 6pm before I heard the garage door opening. I had spent the larger part of the day just sitting and waiting for someone to check in on me. What the hell were they thinking leaving a stranger alone in their home?
I tried to be patient, but after raiding their fridge and a few hours of complete silence, my idle hands had enough and I went to explore the rest of the house.
Based on the contents of the bedrooms, there were four men that lived here. I had already met three, which left only one man unaccounted for, the illusive Atlas.
A part of me hoped the car pulling into the garage was him. After their conversation last night, it was clear he was their leader. If I could get into his good graces, maybe he’d keep the other psychos away from me. At the very least, he could be the one to make sure my clothing stayed on for the duration of my stay.
The sound of footsteps approaching from behind pulled me from my thoughts.
“I see you’ve made yourself at home.” Cyrus said, as I heard his footsteps approach the living room.
I was curled up on their smoky grey couch in the middle of a reality T.V. binge on their gigantic flat screen.
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t like I had much of a choice.” I countered, twisting on the couch to face him.
“We had business to take care of.” Ezra spoke up as he and Tristan walked up to flank Cyrus on either side.
After I reflected on the events of last night, Ezra was the last person I wanted to see. He was an asshole and an egotistical asshole at that. He may have hit the nail on the head with my mommy issues, but he was way off about my scars. I wouldn’t touch Malcolm with a fucking ten-foot pole. Luckily for Alex and I, his vile ass didn’t have a fascination for touching little girls, just beating them. Regardless, my past was none of his fucking business and I refused to let him get under my skin again.
“That’s fine,” I responded coolly, “though I’d like to start work soon, I can’t imagine leaving me to sit here all day is helping to pay off Malcolm’s debt.”
“Work?” Cyrus answered with a single brow raised. “No offense, darling, but you aren’t cut out for our kind of business. Why the fuck would we make you work?”
“But how else would I pay off the debt?”
“You are the debt,” Ezra spoke up, tilting his head with a smirk, “paid in full.”
What? In a split-second all the air rushed out of my lungs and the living room that once felt ostentatious became suffocating. His words shook me to my core and left me dumbfounded in the aftermath.
That wasn’t what I agreed to. At all.
Fucking Malcolm. It had to be his doing. The Reapers had no incentive to lie. With their power, if they wanted to keep me, they would.
Seeing the confusion on my face, Cyrus continued.
“In exchange for his life, Malcolm offered yours. This contract doesn’t have an end date, Princess. You are ours, indefinitely.”
Cyrus went into further detail, but my ears stopped listening. My expression was blank as a war of emotions rushed through me. I was theirs… I wasn’t going back to Alex, not now and possibly not ever. I wasn’t just repaying a debt; I was the goddamn debt.
Nausea bloomed in my gut. This wasn’t possible. This had to be some kind of mistake. I never agreed to any of this. I needed to leave, but even I wasn’t foolish enough to think that they’d just let me walk out of here unharmed. I knew too much. Had scoped out their living quarters and had clearance with their security teams. I knew each of their faces so intimately that I could describe them from memory, and their anonymity outside of their inner circle was sacred.
I was upset, though mostly with myself, for being so fucking naïve. This explained so much. Why I couldn’t leave the property of my own free will. Why the guards went through such great lengths to ensure that I couldn’t see where we were going and why they had taken my only means of contacting Alex before I had even arrived. I was in deep shit and the reality of it was I had no one to blame but myself.
Slowly rising from my seat, I excused myself and made my way out of the room. Once I was out of their line of sight, my feet ran towards the nearest restroom. The moment my knees landed on the cool ceramic tile, my stomach began heaving its contents into the toilet. Silent tears streamed down my face as my body curled in on itself.
What have I done?